MURDER. The sacredness of human life, arising out of the fact that man was made in the image and likeness of God, is emphatically pro. claimed in Scripture ; and the malicious taking away of that life is set forth as a crime deserving the last punishment. So deeply rooted in human nature is this conviction, that from the earliest times it was held as a settled principle, that whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed;' and to this the divine sanction was fully given (Gen. ix. 5, 6). The exactino. of life for life came to be regarded as a duty devolving upon the male nearest of kin to the party slain ; and with this the hi isaic legislation interfered no further, than to impose upon the exercise of it such restraints as gave opportunity of escape to those who had taken life by accident or without malicious intent. [CITIES OF REFUGE; KINSMAN.] The principle of the Mosaic law was, that human lite was to be sacredly protected ; its peremptory enact ment was, Thou shalt not kill,' Exod. xx. 13 ; Deut. v. 17 ; and the penalty of death was awarded to the violator of this law (Exod. xxi. 12, 14 Lev. xxiv. 17, 21 ; Num. xxxv. 16-18). For the man who had committed murder there was no asylum ; even the altar of God did not protect him (Deut. xix. r r). When a dead body was found that bore marks of violence, and the perpetrator of the murder could not be discovered, the city nearest to the spot where the body was found was held bound to expiate the deed by sacrifice, that so the guilt of innocent blood might not rest on the land (Deut. xxi. 1-9). Whilst the Mosaic law, however, was thus peremptory in its denun ciation of murder, it recognised the distinction be tween that and simple homicide. Besides the pro vision of cities of refuge, in which the man who had accidentally killed another might be safe, the law specified certain cases in which the distinction was to take effect :—I. In the case of one who had chastened his servant so that death ensued, if this death occurred under the master's hand '—i. e., whilst the punishment was being inflicted—the mas ter was to be held guilty of murder, and punished accordingly (Knobel in loc.); but if the servant sur vived a day or two, the master was not to be so dealt with, for he is his money ;' i. e., being his
property, the presumption would be that the master did not mean to kill him—that he only intended to chastise, and that, consequently, the death was an unexpected accident ; in which case the loss of his servant was held to be sufficient penalty for his severity. 2. If in a conflict between men, a pregnant woman should receive some injury, in consequence of which the child in her womb was destroyed, then if no further mis chief happened to her, the party who had inflicted the injury was to be absolved on paying such a fine as the husband of the woman, with consent of the judge, should demand of him ; but if the woman died in consequence of the injury, life was to be taken for life. 3. If a thief was killed whilst breaking into a house by night, no retribu tion was to be demanded; but if this was done during daylight, it was to be held a case of murder, because in this case the proper course would have been to capture the thief, and either compel him to make restitution for his trespass, or failing that, to sell him for his theft (Exod. xxi. 20-22 ; xxii. 2, 3). The absence of any reference in the Mosaic code to parricide or infanticide may be held to indicate that such crimes were unknown among the Hebrews. Poisoning is not expressly mentioned, but is probably included under witch craft (Exod. xxii. is). Josephus says (Bell. .7zed. iii. 8. 5) that suicide was dealt with as a crime by the Jews ; but to this no reference is made in the Mosaic legation, and the cases of suicide men tioned in Scripture convey no hint of a penalty of any kind being thereby incurred (r Sam. xxxi. 4, ; 2 Sam. xvii. 23 ; I Kings xvi. IS ; Matt. xxvii. 5 ; comp. 2 Maccab. xiv. 41, ff.) The sacred regard for human life manifest throughout the Mosaic legislation is strikingly seen in the enactment that if an ox, known to be vicious, gored any one to death, not only the animal was to be destroyed, but the owner was also to be dealt with as a murderer (Exod. xxi. 28-31). The malicious shedding of human blood was held to pollute the land, and the pollution could be re moved only by the blood of the murderer (Philo, De Legg. Spec., iii. r5 ; Michaelis, Laws of Moses, vol. iv. ; Ewald, Altherthiimer des V. Israels, p. L. A.